another hour, discussing ways and means, and occasionally referring in a gentlemanly way to terms of business; then they went out to lunch in an aura of mutual admiration and regard, and discussed the fortunes which they would assist each other to make; and when they finally separated, the Saint had agreed to meet Mr. Fallon again the following day, bringing with him (in cash) the sum of two thousand pounds which he was to invest in the new industry, on an equal partership basis, as a guarantee of his good faith.
Simon went off with Louie Fallon's diamond in his pocket. As a purely formal precaution, he took it round to a diamond merchant of his acquaintance who pronounced it to be unquestionably genuine; and then he proceeded somewhat light-headedly to make some curious purchases.
The clouds of ill-starred melancholy seemed to have dispersed themselves from Mr. Fallon's sky overnight; for when he opened the door to Simon Templar the next day he was beaming. The flat, Simon noticed, was in some disorder, and there were three freshly labelled suitcases standing in the hall.
'I hope I'm not late,' said the Saint anxiously.
'Only a minute or two,' said Louie heartily. 'It's my own fault that it seems longer. I was just nervous. I guess I couldn't believe that my luck had really changed until I saw you on the step. You see, I've got my tickets and everything —I'm ready to go as soon as everything's fixed up.'
The Saint believed him. As soon as everything had been fixed up in the way Louie intended, Mr. Fallon would be likely to go as fast and far as the conveniences of modern travel would take him. Simon made vague noises of sympathy and encouragement, and followed his benefactor into the living-room.
'There's the contract, all drawn up ready,' said Louie, producing a large and impressive-looking document with fat red seals attached to it. 'All you've got to do is to sign on the dotted line and put in your capital, and you're in charge of the whole business. After that, if you send me two or three hundred pounds a week out of the profits, I'll be quite happy, and I don't much care what you do with the rest.'
With all the eagerness that was expected of him, Simon sat down at the table, glanced over the document, and signed his name over the dotted line as requested. Then he took out his wallet and counted out a sheaf of crisp new banknotes; and Louie picked them up and counted them again with slightly unsteady fingers.
'Well, now,' said the Saint, 'if that's all settled, hadn't you better show me your process?'
'I've written it all out for you——'
'Oh, yes, I'd want that. But couldn't we try it over now just to make sure that I understand it properly?'
'Certainly, my dear chap—certainly.' Mr. Fallon pushed up his sleeve to look at his watch, and appeared to make a calculation. 'I don't know whether I'll have time to see the experiment right through to the end, but once you've got it started you can't possibly go wrong. It's absolutely foolproof. Come along.'
They went into the bathroom and Simon poured out magnesium and iron filings into the crucible exactly as he had seen Louie doing the previous day. The composition of the powder from which the diamonds were actually made gave him more trouble—it was apparently made up of the contents of various other unlabelled bottles, mixed up in certain complicated proportions. It was at this stage in the proceedings that the Saint appeared to become unexpectedly stupid and clumsy. He poured out too much from one bottle and spilt most of the contents of another on to the floor.
'You'll have to be more careful than that,' said Louie, pursing his lips, 'but I can see you've got the idea. Well, now, if I'm goin' to catch my train——'
'I'd like to finish the job,' said the Saint, 'even if the mixture has gone wrong. After all, I may as well know if there are any other mistakes I'm likely to make.' He put a match to his mixture and stepped back while it flared up. Louie watched this studiously.
'I don't expect you'll get any results,' he said, 'but it can't do any harm for you to get some practice. Now as soon as the thing's properly white hot——'
He supervised the tipping of the contents of the crucible into the cooler indulgently. He had no cause for alarm. The proportions of the
